Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Together Teacher Giveaway! {giveaway closed}

This time every year I re-evaluate my systems. Did I train my kids in Daily 5 well enough? Do they all know the opening and closing day routines without reminders? Did the changes I made to last year's schedule work well for me and the kids? In December, I ask these questions and observe. Then, in January, I make a News Year's resolution to make changes and re-train based on those observations.

In the book, there are twelve chapters, focusing on subjects such as making a calendar, creating organizational systems, establishing solid routines, taking notes at staff meetings and anecdotal records of student behaviors, planning ahead, managing email, cleaning your classroom, organize student "stuff" (backpacks, supplies, etc), and dealing with your mounds of papers that need to be filed, graded, and filled out. Seriously, this book has it all.

And, it has a CD to boot! It has several templates to use in your classroom that are in Word or Powerpoint, so they are completely editable and customizable for you. I love that!

This paragraph from the forward really hooked me:

An inveterate organizer, [Maia] crafted minute-by-minute plans for each day, orchestrated routines to keep students on-task, and carefully assigned desks. She distributed elaborate writing assignments with step-by-step instructions She constantly circulated among her students, clipboard in hand. She asked for "exit tickets" at the end of class to track student progress. She handed out "differentiated homework so students' nightly assignments were customized to reflect precisely where they needed to review or to stretch toward more challenging material. Maia's relentless consistency made her students feel safe, productive, and self-sufficient.

Now isn't that the classroom we all want? I feel I am a highly organized teacher and person, but this book really helped me zone in on the areas that I can work on to be even better. At a Daily 5 workshop last summer, Joan Moser said "Our students deserve the most exquisite instruction and teaching." It's true! And this book can help us all get there, just by tweaking systems, routines, and habits. We all know WHAT to teach (standards) and WHAT to do (best practices), the hard part is HOW to do it. This book offers some real solutions for finding that how.

So, who wants to read this book? Enter the rafflecopter below and I will mail you my extra copy from Shelton Interactive!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I love using transitions as moments of learning, and they also help reduce time spent-off task when done well. So, each week I write down in my lesson plans the kinds of things I'm going to do in my transitions. ❀ TammyForever in First

Organized.A word I aspire to have used with my name in a sentence.My tip-I punch a hole in the top right corner of all of my originals so that I never give away my copy:)WOuld love to win:)Squirrelsmisssquirels@yahoo.com

One little tip: the authors of the Daily 5 are JOAN Moser and Gail Boushey (not sure of the spelling of Gail's last name) But Joan worked in our school district for several years so I noticed that error right away. Organization is something that I strive for and desire on every level. I keep each student's assessment info in a binder and that part of my teaching is very well organized, but the rest is sometimes a mystery to me!

Thanks for the fun giveaway! That book looks great! I'm using the app "Confer" this year to organize my reading and writing conferences and I'm loving it! I hope you'll stop by my gift card giveaway this week. I'm super excited about it! Katie :)I Want to be a Super Teacher

I am always looking for easier, more organized ways. My tip: When printing cards for a game or center I use the white side of a printed cardstock, and then all the components to that center have the same design on the back, making it easier to identify what goes with what.

Awesome giveaway! I try my best to stay organized. It's hard with 28 students!! One thing that I have always dine is organize my read aloud books in ziplock baggies. I organize them by unit, and it really makes it easy to keep all my books together!

During my student teaching, my cooperating teacher had "day buckets" and put everything we'd need for Monday in the Monday bucket, etc. It was so easy to find everything you'd need for the day in one spot! Plus it's super helpful to have everything in an easy to find spot in case you ever unexpectedly need a sub!

My tip is binders. I have a binder that contains just the lessons needed for this week and then once they are finished, they get moved into a large binder that contains all that was done for the whole year. This way if I ever need to refer back to something it's all set to go!Shibahnlandrylandoflearning@gmail.com

Ugh- organization is my worst area, by far. My best tip is to have a teacher binder with all the information you need to reference often. I take it home with me each day so that I always have the basics I need at my fingertips!